Page 84 of Torched

“It is. This seems to be an album dedicated to them. Trips to Florida, one where Loranne is standing at Plaza de España. I don’t remember seeing her face before, so I’m assuming he kept her hidden from my mother when he brought her to Spain. I’m looking for anything that can lead to the diamond, but nothing yet.”

I take the seat next to her and we glance through the book together, scanning every picture without any luck.

“There has to be something,” I mumble when Callie flips to the last page.

“What is this?” Callie frowns, and I crane my neck to look at the last photo.

Loranne is standing next to a grave, a blank expression on her face. She looks young, almost a child herself, though her soul seems missing.

“Holy shit!” Callie blurts. “Look at that name!”

My eyes trace the words on the headstone. “Ruby Reyes.” I pause. “They had a daughter.”

“Yeah, but look. She died at birth. The date is the same.”

That’s it!

The realization feels like a triumph, and I give Callie a knowing look.

“What?”

“I bet you that diamond is buried in that grave.”

“Oh shit,” she huffs. “I think you’re right.”

29

IMOGEN

PRESENT DAY

Myheadfeelslikea knife sliced through it, the sharp pain traveling all the way down my spine. With squinting eyes, I wake up, trying to adjust to the dim light in the room. A thick rope is wrapped tightly around my wrists in front of me, digging into my flesh, while I’m sitting on the cold ground. The air feels stuffy and smells moldy, and in the distance, I can hear rushing water. My vision is a bit blurry as I blink a few times, and I crack the muscles in my neck to hopefully loosen me up and fix that.

“Good morning, sunshine,” a voice sings to me.

I twist my neck in the direction of the sound, my eyes still squinting. Beardman, who I assume is Dax, smiles at me, almost as if he doesn’t have any ill intention toward me.

“You didn’t have to knock me over the head, you know?” I moan, thinking back to how he hit me with his gun as soon as I was fully inside of the car.

“Yeah, I did. I bet you’re real crafty like Callie when you want to be.”

“You know Callie?” I taste copper in my mouth, and I spit it out before I look up. The ceiling is black stone, and when I look around again, I realize we’re inside a cave. The entrance is about twenty yards away, providing the only source of light in here, and I now register the clear sound of a waterfall somewhere in the distance.

“What is it with these people and caves?” I mumble to myself as I wait for him to answer me. The entire Reyes family has lived in caves most of their lives, but after I visited Callie and her mom in Granada once, I was healed from any desire to ever go inside a cave ever again. It creeps me the fuck out.

“Personally? No. But I’ve heard the stories. She’s quite the woman. Rumor on the streets is she’s the one who’s on top of the Carrillo empire nowadays,” he says from the big boulder he’s sitting on.

He’s eating an apple, cutting it up with a pocketknife piece by piece, and I roll my eyes at the cliche sight of it.Of course, he is. Warrior man. Real-life Bear Grylls. Manly cutting up an apple caveman style—fitting for our scenery.

“It’s more of a joint effort.”

“Doesn’t she control the money?”

“You tell me, Dax.” I’m not going to give this guy any more information than what he already knows, so I have to be careful of how much I share. “Can I get aspirin or something? Maybe a bottle of vodka to get rid of this headache?”

He laughs. It’s whole-hearted and full, making his green eyes sparkle. It almost makes him handsome. You know, if he didn’t knock me out and have me tied up in some fucking cave.

“Cristina never mentioned that you were as sassy as Callie. She warned me your cousin was a force to be reckoned with, but she never mentioned you.”

---